19 years of empowering specially-abled children

‘Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan’, one of India’s largest schools for specially-abled, has been working to provide gratuitous service to over 1000 students for free

It's been 19 years that Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan, one of India's largest schools for specially-abled, has been enabling 'children with special needs'.

To commemorate the achievement, the school celebrated its 19th Annual Day on February 16.

Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan works under the aegis of The Ponty Chadha Foundation which works towards the social and economic development of the society. On this momentous occasion, the school announced the launch of its new initiative, 'Centre for Research, Innovation and Technology for Disability' – which is another step towards improving the lives of the specially-abled through high-quality research, development of new technology, support services and facilities.

The R&D at the centre will focus on certain social aspects of disability, identify barriers to the social inclusion of disabled people and produce policy recommendations to appropriate stakeholders. The first project under the aegis of this centre would be 'Virtual Learning Programme' – a learning platform for

teaching life skills using latest technologies. It will be a mobile-based self-instructional interventional tool for parents in remote corners of India who do not have access to special education and therapeutic interventions.

On the occasion, Manpreet Singh Chadha, Vice-Chairman, Wave Group said, "We try and walk on the path shown to us by Ponty Chadha and every year we move closer to his vision of creating an environment where children with special needs could become socially and economically independent. With the launch of the R&D centre and the 'Virtual Learning Programme', we aim to provide parents and teacher access to special education programme in the remotest parts of the country on their mobile phones. We believe that these initiatives will give an impetus to our ongoing efforts in bringing vital changes to the lives of hundreds of specially-abled children."

Some other initiatives by the school include 'Vaakya' – a picture based app available on both iOS and Android platforms, designed for people who are speech impaired; 'Swayam' – a programme under which the school operates a shopping portal, integrated with its website (www.mbcnschool.org) that allows customers to buy handmade products made by the special children of the school. 'Emotional Well Programme – Share and Care' is another such initiative which helps children and parent cope with stress. The school also conducts a number of year-long campaigns to raise awareness regarding the needs of specially-abled people.

Vandana Sharma, Director, Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan said, "As we celebrate 19 wonderful years of this great institution, we have undertaken some very innovative methods to bring specially-abled children into the mainstream. With the launch of the R&D centre, we plan to partner with Universities, researchers, and organisations to create ICT-based accessible technology environment. We will continue to channelize our efforts towards empowering the specially-abled."

With dance performances and other programmes highlighting the theme – 'Tele-Hungama', the students enthralled the parents and guests. The school also felicitated students for their achievements in various national and International competitions.

With the vision of enabling the disabled, Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN), an initiative of Late Ponty Chadha, WAVE Group was established for the differently-abled children in the society.

The institution was founded in 1999, with a special endeavour to educate and equip special children to live in the community. The school is one of the very few private rehabilitation institutions, which provides gratuitous service to over 1000 students (free of cost), subjugating the cash-strapped society.

MBCN is the largest day-care special school where students are endowed with free hearing aids, wheelchairs, crutches, uniform, stationery and bus-transport, fostering independence for daily living skills in real life settings.